New search for Madeleine McCann, Portuguese police confirm
- Madeleine McCann has been missing since 2007
- Portuguese police said the search will resume
- German police previously ID'd a suspect in the case
(NewsNation) — The search will resume for Madeleine McCann, a U.K. child who disappeared in Portugal’s Algarve region in 2007, police confirmed.
Portugal’s judicial police released a statement confirming local media reports that they would conduct the search at the request of the German authorities and in the presence of British officials.
McCann vanished from a Portuguese resort May 3, 2007, at the age of 3. She was in the same room as her 2-year-old twin brother and sister while her parents had dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.
The parents said they checked the room regularly, but when they checked a final time at 10 p.m., McCann was gone.
The case has never been closed, though Portuguese police believe Madeleine McCann was killed in an accident and her parents covered it up. The McCanns have maintained their daughter was kidnapped and Scotland Yard has investigated the case as an abduction.
Recently, a Polish woman came forward claiming to be McCann. Julia Faustyna, 21, has taken to social media to post photos of herself and McCann side by side, pointing out similarities. McCann would only be 19 today.
Polish police ruled out the woman’s claims.
In mid-2020, Germany’s police identified Christian Brueckner, a 45-year-old German citizen who was in the Algarve in 2007, as a suspect in the case. Brueckner has denied any involvement.
The suspect is under investigation on suspicion of murder in the McCann case but hasn’t been charged. He spent many years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.
The Associated Press and NewsNation writer Stephanie Whiteside contributed to this report.